Creating your character

You play as a Glowlander, someone who for reasons noble or villainous, has decided to enter the frozen hellscape of the Glowlands. There is no ‘average’ Glowlander, and this strange land attracts people from all over Atrius.

Your Glowlander has a few key components that create them: their aspects (what they roll to see if they succeed), their masteries (what they roll once they’ve succeeded), their goals (what they succeed towards), their talents (what they can use to help them succeed), their equipment (which affects how they succeed) and their Strain and Wounds (what they suffer if they don’t succeed).

Once you have created your character, the campaign doesn’t start just then. As a group with all the other players, you will sit down to collaboratively create the Glowlands and the settlement you all start at, to tie you all together.

Choose your Aspects

Your character has 9 Aspects. You choose the bonuses for 8 of them, leaving your Lucky Aspect. Assign the following bonuses to them:

• 1 Aspect at +3

• 2 Aspects at +2

• 3 Aspects at +1

• 2 remaining Aspects stay at 0

Your Lucky is determined at the start of each Chapter. Before the Chapter begins, roll a d4; your Lucky for that Chapter is the result.

Choose your Species

Atrius holds several different sentient peoples, many of whom emerged from the aftermath of the Unmaking. While physically distinct, these separate species will have mixed cultures defined by geography and politics rather than being divided across

Duren: Your huge size means your carrying capacity starts at 3 columns instead of 2. As well as this, you choose a duren subtype you belong to, made by the gene-engineers who shaped your ancestors, from warhead, pachydermic, coldblood or undertow.

• If you are a warhead duren, you are always treated as being armed with a weapon that has the Breaking and Intimate tags. Using it, however, deals half of the attack damage to you as well as the target.

• If you are a pachydermic duren you always have 1 armour, though this does not stack with other worn armour (it does stack with shields).

• If you are a coldblood duren, you can treat the severity of weather as one step lower than it is.

• If you are an undertow duren, you can breathe underwater. You are able to make a melee attack with your powerful bite; it has the Piercing and Intimate tags.

Furae: You can fly. As a ranged attack, you can deafen and stagger an enemy with a piercing screech, targeting a single enemy within Range 0 with a Forceful+Precise roll against their Ranged threat. If you succeed, deal damage equal to half your Martial damage, and the next rolls against them has Advantage.

Human: Choose an extra Talent at character creation.

Raknin: You can telepathically communicate with any other Raknin in the Scene that you are aware of, and can telepathically commune with insects (though they are under no obligation to help or obey you). You can see in the dark and exude a strong, flexible silk from your palms, creating three feet of it with a single action.

Steelborn: You are a mechanical being, and you do not need to eat, drink or breathe; you still use provisions to power your frame, but only need to spend 4 hours a night in low-power mode to let your internal power cells recharge. You also get to choose a construction template from HSR, RIV or WDP, gaining that template’s benefit.

• HSR (Hazardous Situation Rescue): Once per Scene, you can choose to reroll any failed non-attack roll that uses your Forceful Aspect.

• RIV (Reconaissance and Intelligence Vehicle): You have Advantage on any Back Out rolls you make.

• WDP (Weapons Delivery Platform): Once per scene, you can use an action outside of your turn, to either move or make an attack.

Vitareen: You can move through a space up to six square inches in size, but cannot end your turn in it and equipment you carry might not be able to come through with you.

Choose your Class

Your class determines your starting gear and your character’s goal and abilities – as well as something they are chasing. As your character advances towards and achieves their goal, they will grow and become more adept with their skills, gaining more talents and spells. You can see a quick summary of the classes below, and a more detailed description of the classes and their abilities in the Classes page.

Breaker - You are the muscle, the hammer who smashes the foe and the bulwark the enemy breaks against.

Champion - You are a leader, who protects and coordinates your fellows, bringing them with you with the force of your personality.

Holographist - You create images and illusions to baffle your foes and to reshape the world using your images.

Outrider - You are the eyes and ears of your band, moving swiftly and silently across the wastes.

Theurge - You are an agent of the Transcendent Circuit, following the guidance of your gods in the inhospitable tundra of the Glowlands.

Technologist - You are a historian and archeologist, wielding magic and tech-relics as you search for ancient secrets.

Decide your Core Goal

Your character has core goals they must try and achieve; by seeking out and finding the answers to this, you can grow and advance your character. When you choose your class, you get a goal. In addition, choose a goal not related to your class. This is your core goal. Whenever you advance towards it or achieve it, mark off an experience box on your character sheet. You spend these to advance your character.

Specialisations

When you create your character, you get three specialisations - these start at rank 1, granting a +1 bonus on any Aspect rolls that use them. Specialisations are narrow fields that your character is particularly good at. Example specialisations include:

• A specific school of magic (death magic, illumination, technomancy etc.)

• A specific weapon (musket, longsword, handaxe etc.)

• A specific field of academia (computers, alchemy, history etc.)

• A certain type of terrain you navigate best (open tundra, mountains, urban ruins etc.)

• A specific type of item you make

Talent

Choose one talent to start with. You may find the list here.

Strain

Strain is a measure of how much physical hurt a character can endure before they are seriously injured or killed. A character’s Strain starts at 0 and increases as they take damage. A character’s maximum Strain is equal to 3 plus their Defiant.

Mastery

At character creation, all masteries start at Rank 1, except for one that is increased to Rank 2 by your class choice.

Starting Gear

As well as your class’s starting equipment, your character also starts with the following gear:

• Clothing to protect you from the cold

• 7 Provisions (the supplies you need to travel)

• 2d6x5 Chips (the currency used in the Glowlands). You may use this to buy extra equipment from the equipment chapter, and can sell your starting class equipment

• The starting gear given to you by your class

Carrying Capacity

The weight of your gear is often less important than how you stow it. The items you carry are stored on a grid, which is six rows tall. The number of columns you can use on the grid varies depending on your Forceful.

All characters start with two columns available, and then add on a number of extra columns equal to their Forceful.

Speed

Your character has a speed; this is the number of zones they can move between in a single turn, and is based on your Graceful. A character with a Graceful of 0 to 2 can move across one zone in a turn. A character with a Graceful of 3 to 4 can move across two zones in a turn. A character with a Graceful of 5 can move across three zones in a turn.

Once you have completed making your character, wait for everyone else to finish making theirs. Once all the characters have been made, the group now goes together to Building the Glowlands.